My Radioactive Heart

seconde

“battles and broken bones”





"Oh! That's gotta hurt!" Coach Boomer's voice echoed around the stadium as the blue-clad figure playing the "hero" of the scenario crashed to the ground after having been thrown into the transparent wall made by the shield. "Looks like our heroes aren't doing so well with this little villain."



The small-ish black-clad female figure on the other side of the stadium smirked around the room before mock-saluting the coach. She cast a dark look around the stands, daring someone else to challenge her.



"This'll be refreshing; you should take her on. It’ll help you with that feeling that you still need someone to set you right." Warren said with a mischievous grin as he smacked Lash playfully on the shoulder. Lash looked skeptical.



"She's really small though. I'd probably break her or something. This is me remember. No one can beat me." Warren raised his eyebrow. "That time doesn't count. I mean no one can beat me one-on-one, not these days anyway."



"She broke three of Will's ribs."



"You're kidding."



"I swear. I'd say ask him about it but he doesn't like to talk about it. Something about not being able to handle being beaten by a girl other than his girlfriend. Nat destroyed him."



"Wait. That's Natalie?" Lash gaped. He'd just watched the girl who now stood on top of a wrecked car almost kill three other players. She hadn't even seemed like she needed to try. He certainly wasn't used to this new system, which could only be played by students over 18, that didn't involve a victim unless requested and had special security features to keep the students from accidently killing each other. Said system had just kicked in for the past three games, catching in midair several large projectiles that would've crushed Natalie's opponents.



"She's new top "villain," even though this game's not based on good vs. bad. She aims to conquer, but watch later, cause she'll visit those guys she just put in the hospice with a handshake, if they can manage, and couple tips for future fights, along with well-wishes that they recover soon."



"Still..."



"Play her, you'll actually feel better afterwards, even if you can't feel your limbs." Warren chuckled and practically shoved Lash to stand.



"Do we have a challenger, Mr. Sanding?" Coach Boomer called, seeing Lash standing. Lash just shrugged, a movement that was surprisingly greeted by cheers. He gave Warren a querulous look and leaned over towards the other boy.



"What just happened?"



"Nat's never lost. That's something a number of people would be interested in seeing. They're hopeful. I'm realistic." Warren said, gesturing with his hand for Lash to head down to the arena. Lash gave him a look of doubt before turning and making his way down to the doors through the shield.



Lash donned a set of red armor and entered, cheers still ringing around him. Natalie didn't move beyond putting her hands on her hips as she studied him. After a moment, she jumped off the totaled vehicle and sauntered towards him.



"You must be new, but you look kinda familiar." She said with a casual smile, holding out her hand. "I'm Natalie."



"Lash." Lash shook the offered hand, carefully at first, but with strength when he felt a hard grip. "Actually, I've just been away for a while. And we share a class."



"Huh. Lash..." She said softly, like she was analyzing the nickname. Her eyes, which had wandered down as he spoke, shot up to lock on his. "Glad to meet you."



She took several steps back and inclined her head slightly, indicating that she was finished with the formalities.



"Let the games begin!" Boomer bellowed. "Remember: no killing, though accidents do happen; no swearing, though everyone slips sometimes; no nudity, no exceptions; and no surrender if you can still walk. Game on!"



Lash hardly registered that they'd begun when all sorts of debris began levitating and spinning around. What looked like an ice cooler suddenly darted towards him across the arena. He managed to dodge it, not having expected an attack so soon.



He distantly heard laughter, Natalie's laughter, even more distant the sound of the crowd. Focus, or she will beat you, he reminded himself. Learn her power, and then get her. Easy.



Lash grinned with that thought and stretched out, grabbing the cooler that had been thrown at him and hauling it back at her. She didn't even move, but the cooler appeared to bounce off of her, except from several feet away. The corner of her mouth curled and she did a no-handed cartwheel back onto her previous perch.



"I'll go easy on you." She laughed. Her arms flew out and she gestured to the remaining projectiles-to-be. As she moved her arms, the objects moved as well. With one arm, she tossed what appeared to be the remains of a bench and a bicycle into the shield, disfiguring them further. She drew in her other arm and a two-legged table went hurtling towards her. At the last moment, her arm came up and what looked like a shield flared for a second about a foot from her body and deflected the table, knocking off another of its legs.



"I hope you understand now." Natalie jumped down from the car and picked up the broken leg. She looked up at him and grinned. And disappeared. The table leg was still visible and being tossed up and down. Actually, it seemed her presence was still somewhat visible, disfiguring the empty air, if you looked directly at where she stood.



The table leg suddenly flew abnormally high into the air, as if on a spinning platter. Natalie reappeared as the leg started falling, and Lash noticed that the same flare of her shield had been faintly present underneath the leg. However, he didn't expect it when she thrust her hand out in his direction, and he could clearly see a distortion in the air. He didn't realize it was moving towards him until it hit him in the chest and threw him into the wall behind him.



Acting on instinct, which is how he'd perfected his skills, he picked himself up quickly and dropped one hand to the ground, reaching across the floor towards her and he went for a piece of the bench with his other, which he then threw at her.



Natalie watched the board fly towards her and disappeared, presumably moving because the board sailed on past where she had been standing and into the floor. Lash concentrated on his opponent's powers and singled one out in his mind. Natalie suddenly appeared about ten feet from him and looked horrified when he turned towards her.



"What?" She gestured towards him and he saw the distorted space again. Rolling out of the way, but closer to her, he focused again, this time on her other power. Natalie glared and gestured again, shocked when nothing happened. She turned invisible again. However, Lash had moved close enough and his slinking hand grabbed hold of what he assumed was her arm and reeled her in, using the momentum to throw her to the opposite side, but not letting go.



The crowd outside roared in surprise and glee. Warren blinked in shock. The older boy seemed to have stumbled upon a new power while he was away. Lash might actually stand a chance. But he won't win, the boy reassured himself.



Lash pulled Natalie back and forth, smashing her into the walls, still concentrating on her power. He then hurled her across the arena where he saw a heap of assorted junk basically explode as something crashed into it. He pulled himself back in, but remained wary.



With good reason, because a few seconds later, a bed-frame and a chest came flying out of the pile towards him. He'd forgotten that he'd stopped concentrating on her power to create the distortions. He tried to dodge, but the bed-frame caught him around the waist and smashed to the floor with him. He groaned as he pushed it off of him and stood.



The pile started tearing itself apart, partially from the still invisible Natalie thrashing around, and partially from the intermittent distortions that came shooting out from her. Lash focused and anything that had been in the air dropped out of any kind of control and flew on by sheer momentum and eventually hit the ground, far from him.



Natalie stopped moving and separated herself from the pile. Lash knew she'd probably figured out by now what he was doing and likely stood or moved in a poised fashion such that she could see the exact moment she became visible, ready to hurl a distortion at him. He wouldn't switch though, and started looking around for the faint appearance of her clothing.



He hadn't expected the appearance of the girl before him, or the sudden blow to his jaw as she punched him hard in the face. He was still reeling when she grabbed him by the collar and threw him backwards into the bed-frame. She moved quickly as he focused again and did another aerial, kicking him in the side and basically putting out his left arm.



Lash quickly wrapped his right arm around her and pinned her against the same frame with his hand clinging to the pressure point in shoulder. She visibly winced and phased in and out of view.



"You're not too bad. Fast. Always helps. And that little trick of yours." She bit her lip and reached out with one of her free arms and caught him by the armor over his chest. She pulled him such that his face was inches from hers and met his eyes, momentarily disarming him. A moment seemed to be all she needed, as she then spun against the curl of his arm and bent, pulling him over her and to the floor. She, of course, fell on him as he hadn't completely let go of her.



Lash gasped as the wind was knocked out of him, his arm going limp around her body. Natalie rolled and threw one of her legs over his chest, planting her other knee against the underside of his chest armor, pressing it into his stomach painfully.



"Ow." Lash tried to sound cocky.



Natalie leaned over him and whispered into his ear.



"Try not to move, I just stunned your spine. You lost."



She was off of him less then a second later and walking away. Lash tried to move but found that he could hardly turn his head. He groaned as a bolt of pain shot through his spine and he felt a tingling that started from his fingers and toes and worked inward towards his nervous system.



"Well, ladies and gentlemen, that was quite the showdown, wouldn't you say?" The crowd screamed over Boomer's voice, if that was possible, with general noise.



Lash tentatively tried moving his arm and, upon succeeding, slowly rolled over and lifted himself up. Very slowly. Everything hurt. So much that he hardly remembered Natalie's strange behavior at the end of their match.



"I'm surprised, you did really well." Warren's voice came through the racket around him. Lash felt like his ears were ringing. A hand was on his shoulder, steadying him, presumably Warren's.



"Lash! Man you crazy mo-fo, that was epic!" Lash didn't hear all of Speed's words because somewhere around ‘mo-fo’ Speed clapped him on the back and his nervous system jolted, knocking him out.



"What the fuck?" Speed sputtered.



"Nurse Spex." Warren waved the white-coated elderly woman over with a twisted grin. "Spinal injury."

---

Lash woke in a slight mental haze that could only be due to painkillers. He didn't have to wonder what for as he clearly remembered hearing Speed's voice before feeling a hand hit him in the back of the shoulders. With his eyes still closed, he let his attention stray to his left arm. It felt as though it was wrapped in a brace.



He winced and lifted his right arm slowly to his face and rubbed his hand over his eyes, blinking them open to a blank white ceiling. Leaning up a little, he felt a sharp pain in his back and fell back, closing his eyes again, noticing his head hadn't been cushioned by a pillow.



"Ow," he managed.



"Finally, you're awake."



Lash heard a girl's voice, and it certainly wasn't what he remembered Nurse Spex to sound like. Opening one eye and looking up again he saw the small grinning figure of Natalie. She was leaning over the bed slightly and had a white pillow in her arms.



"You've been out for kind of a while. Your friend really did you in, from what I hear. A hit like that really would've downed anyone." She said with a grin. She turned her head behind her and gave a nod to someone Lash couldn't see before turning back to him as he tried again to sit up.



"Oh, wait, don't do that. You'll pass out..." Her last words kind of withered to silence as Lash felt a flash of pain in his back again, no less painful than the first. Natalie bit her lip to keep from laughing and put a hand gently behind his shoulder, helping him stay up for a moment more as she slipped the pillow in behind him. Still holding onto him, she reached under the bed and pulled out another pillow to prop him up.



"As I remember, I think it was you that's responsible for this." Lash groaned softly as he let his upper body rest on the pillows. Natalie just gave a short laugh and rolled her eyes.



"I told you not to move." She said pointedly.



"Yeah, but no, this is still kinda your fault." Lash reaffirmed, closing his eyes and rubbing his temple with his good hand. He looked down at his left arm and saw that it was indeed braced. "Great."



"Hey, I promise, I have battle scars too." Natalie grinned, noticing his response to his arm. When he looked back at her, she pulled the collar of her shirt down to reveal the spot where he'd pinched the nerve in her shoulder. A pair of black and purple spots had formed.



"Nice," Lash said with a smirk. "So what are you here for? I mean, that's certainly a veritable injury, but doesn't really need medical attention does it?"



"I always come by to check on the people I battle, just to make sure I didn't really kill anyone." Natalie reached over him towards his left arm. He moved it away from her. "Don't worry; I'm not planning any more damage."



Lash couldn't help a small smile, and he let her take his arm. It surprisingly didn't hurt. She found the snap holding brace together and started undoing it. Removing the brace, she moved his arm around a little before releasing it. "No harm done."



Lash moved his arm and hand and realized that it was completely fine. No doubt due to Nurse Spex's amazing skills at patching up just about anything and everything.



"I remembered why you looked familiar," Natalie admitted, giving Lash an odd look. "You were with that girl a couple days ago, the one I decked for being a brat?"



"You must mean Penny." Lash said with a nod.



"Oh she has a name? Great, cause I was getting sick of calling her "crazy bitch." Oh no wait, that's a lie. "Crazy bitch" suits her way better than Penny."



"Yeah," Lash said slowly. "We're not really friends anymore. She didn't really agree with my friendship with Warren."



"Warren Peace?" Lash nodded. "I didn't know you were friends with Warren. He's my roommate's girlfriend." Lash raised an eyebrow. "I mean, my girlfriend's roommate - I mean - I'm his girlfriend's roommate! Wow, that was special. Anyway, we hang sometimes."



"Yeah, special. Uh yeah, Warren's cool."



"Yeah," Natalie looked down and bit her lip. "Well, I actually need to get back to class. Hope you, you know, can walk soon."



Lash nodded to Natalie as backed away from the bed with a guarded smile and left the hospice. Lash blinked and rubbed his eyes but then stopped moving as motion seemed to cause him pain. Resting back against the pillows, he just closed his eyes and waited for Nurse Spex to tell him when he'd be able to move again.

---

A/N: Yay, I invented a new game. I mean, every teenager/ young adult really does kind of want to beat the bejezzus out of someone sometimes. We don’t though – cause it would be wrong.



Lash: And now I’ve had my ass kicked – by a girl. This is going splendidly.



Warren: I’m still not having sex with you.